53 proxy Korean language examinees arrested

Published On: June 9, 2019 08:22 AM NPT By: Republica  | @RepublicaNepal


KATHMANDU, June 9: Police arrested 53 individuals proxying for registered candidates at the 10th Korean Language Test (KLT) held under the Employment Permit System (EPS) of South Korea on Saturday. The test was held at 32 centers in Nepal.

According to the police, personnel from the Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD), Teku and the Metropolitan Police Range Offices (MPRO) of Kathmandu and Lalitpur arrested 45 fake examinees from 21 EPS centers in Kathmandu and eight from seven centers in Lalitpur. 

MPRO Kathmandu informed Republica that 43 of those arrested in Kathmandu were male while the remaining two were female. According to MPRO spokesperson  Deputy Superintendent of Police Hobindra Bogati, police teams comprising 35 personnel each were mobilized to secure the EPS centers for the examinations which were held in two shifts, at 10 am and at 2 pm. 

He added that last year 47 fake examinees were arrested on the first day and 137 on the second day, and they were expecting trouble this time also. “We already had a list of likely exam proxies,” he told Republica, “The police team then tracked them on the basis of their photos.”

DSP Bogati said more and more Korean language speakers are getting drawn into the proxy exams racket. He added that the MPRO is stepping up its crackdown on the proxies. 

Another police spokesperson, SP Kedar Dhakal, informed Republica that two different modus operandi used in the proxy racket have been identified. 

“Initial investigations revealed that some of the proxies tampered with the photos on the examination entrance cards,” he told Republica. Some individuals with a resemblance to the genuine candidates sitting for the tests were also arrested, he added. 

SP Dhakal also said that some of the proxy examinees used their own documents from the very beginning. “They were using their own passports rather than the passport of the person they were proxying for,” he added.

Meanwhile, Kaski, the third district where the EPS test centers were located, did not come across any proxy examinees. “District Police Office (DPO),  Kaski had intensified its searches after receiving information about the arrests in the capital,” he said. However, they found nothing suspicious.

More than 92,000 candidates had filed up for the KLT examination this year, the highest number since 2008. Out of these, 10,000 will be granted work visas in South Korea for job opportunities in the 2020 intake. 

Last year, the Korean government selected 8,000 Nepali workers under the EPS. This year, a total of 7,050 will be taken for work in manufacturing and 3,000 in agriculture and animal husbandry.


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